BURLINGTON — Eleven: the number of times a girls tennis team from Greene Central has played for a state championship.

Two: the number of state championship trophies the Rams have in their case.

Zero: the number of times coach Donald Clark mentions state titles to his players.

The Rams played for their third NCHSAA state dual-team championship against Salisbury at the Burlington Tennis Complex on Saturday, but came up short 5-0. But not once during the season — or any season for that matter — did Clark, now in his 25th year, bring up playing for hardware.

Clark only wants to see improvement from one day to the next.

“The only goal that I ever set for any of my teams is that I want them to get better every day,” he said. “Our goal is not to get to Burlington or win a state championship. Our goal is always just to get better every day.

“As long as I get their best effort I don’t care if we lose every match we ever play.”

When the season began Greene Central (20-9) did a lot of losing — four of its first five matches and six of its first 12. But the Rams turned things around.

Playing with confidence — and buying into Clark’s ideals — went a long way.

“We always played confident, and we knew we could do it if we set our mind to it,” senior Jessica Hatch said.

One win led to another, and eventually Greene Central found itself in its 11th state title match in school history.

The outcome may not have come out the way they wanted, but the Rams knew they were better on Saturday than they were in August.

That’s all Clark desired.

“I do think we get better every day. If you keep getting better, than you’re just going to win,” senior Kayla Radford said.

Senior Laurie Sutton said she found encouragement from Clark’s teachings.

“I think by getting better every day it gives us inspiration and gives us better hope for the future,” she said.

Ryan Herman can be reached at 252-559-1073 or Ryan.Herman@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter: @KFPSports.